In my three years of homeschooling I’ve used many resources
for teaching writing and have formed an opinion on what I think it takes to
develop good writers.However, I am
always willing to look at another resource to add to my arsenal of writing
tools to help my children become great writers.

I had to first get acquainted with the material by reading
the table of contents and reading the first couple of chapters to get a sense
of how to implement the curriculum with my high schooler.I must admit I had a hard time getting a grip
on the material.

The text is divided
into six parts:Before You Write,
Persuasion, Exposition, Description, Narration, and Reference.Each part covers several topics.Following is what is covered in Part I and
Part II:

Part I Before You
Write

Chapter 1 – Planning

Chapter 2 – Opinions

Part IIPersuasion

Chapter 3 –
Persuasion Essentials

Chapter 4
-Persuasion-Next Level

Chapter 5
-Persuasion- Logical

Chapter 6 –
Persuasion – Compare/Contrast

Chapter 7
-Persuasion – Moral/Ethical Appeal

Chapter 8 –
Persuasion – Emotional Appeal

Chapter 9 –
Persuasion – The SAT Essay

Chapter 10 –
Proofreading

A closer look into the chapters reveals several things.Each chapter covers a lot of ground.For example, chapter 3 covers all of the
following topics and several other topics:

the
difference between persuasion and opinions

a
practice activity for choosing a topic you feel strongly about

brainstorm
the topic you chose (brainstorming is covered in Part I, Chapter 1)

a practice
exercise of putting the brainstorming ideas in a logical order (logical order is
covered in Part I, Chapter 2)

a third
practice exercise asks you to write a purpose statement using the formula
explained in the section immediately preceding the exercise.

a
discussion of main ideas and thesis statements

a
practice exercise to identify the thesis statement in an introduction
paragraph and answer questions about that same paragraph

the
four things every introduction of a persuasive paper should have including
a QSFSQ tool (discussed in Part I chapter 2), the topic, your view, and
your thesis statement

the
greek organization tool of organizing a paper

This is only chapter 3 of Part II.However, many of the chapters are laid out in
this manner.I became a little discouraged
because this text is so unlike many texts I’ve worked with before.At this point I decided the text would be a
better fit for my 8th grader not my 10th grader.I had my 8th grade student jump
right in before I could fully grasp the material.The student text is very independent so I
just needed to look over her answers to the practice exercises and let her
continue working from one exercise to the next.Having my student actually work in the text made me understand the
material more.

My student is using another literature & composition
course and was working on a character essay at the time I introduced her to
the Writing with Sharon Watson program.The first few exercises
on brainstorming, organizing your ideas, and developing a thesis are great
exercises which translated nicely in developing the character essay she was
already working on. Although The Power in Your Hands, Writing Nonfiction in High School is meant to be a
stand alone curriculum, I think it can be used alongside another program like
we are choosing to do.You can never have too much writing
practice.

I’m still on the fence regarding my praise for this
program.I was a little harsh in my
critique before we actually started using it.Sometimes you just have to go with it to get it.I just have a different way of approaching
writing that conflicts with the layout of Sharon Watson’s curriculum.For example, if I want to focus on writing
good introductions I want to look at a text and see all the introductions for
persuasive writing, narrations, literary analysis, etc.The author covers introductions at different
places within the text so I would have to hunt around to view all the
activities that focused on introductions.As an improvement, I would include an index to help direct the student
to every place in the text where a lesson on introductions could be found.If I wanted to find a particular skill to
work on and all of the practice exercises related to that topic, being able to
go directly to this content would be helpful.

Because this is a high school text, it may not make sense to
work your way through the text from beginning to end.A lot of high school students have mastered
certain aspects of writing but not all.This
is the reason I started my 8th grader with this text and not my 10th
grader.At this point in my 10th grader's
academic career she needs to strengthen certain skills not relearn them all
over again.

What I liked the most about this curriculum is Part 6, the
Reference section.This section includes
a “Be Your Own Editor” section which reminds students to look at the finer
details of a paper to do a proper editing job.This section also does a nice job of summarizing the text into nice
bite-sized chunks.It is more a less a
summary of the skills covered that I mentioned I would have liked to see
in the table of contents with page references.

I will continue through the text with my 8th
grader and hopefully in the end have a studentmore confident in developing her own ideas.In future blog entries I plan to do updates
on her progress and link them back to this review as a testament of its
effectiveness.

Find out what other TOS crew bloggers thought of Writing with Sharon Watson.
Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Another great intensive with Landry Academy. These guys are great! We did the biology intensive for Princess back in September but this month we had the opportunity to do the physical science intensive for Pumpkin. As usual she goes to anything that is academic in nature kicking and screaming. However, when it is all said and done she has a really great time.

What I think is so funny about doing these types of things are the stories my kids tell afterward about working with other kids. You tend to forget this (working in groups) as a homeschooler and probably take it for granted as a public/private school student. In every group situation there is the "know it all," "the perfectionist," and "the do nothing." It is enlightening to find out how my kid navigated the group project. It is definitely a skill we all must master.

I love the big informative books Landry puts together for the kids. All the blanks are filled in and the kids come home with a great sense of accomplishment. They always give the kids lab homework on Day 1 which is graded by the Landry instructor, it all makes for 2 school days well spent.

My kids also enjoy the night away from all the mayhem we have in our home (with 6 kids in all). They get to stay alone with grandma who so kindly agrees to pick up on Day 1 and drop off on Day 2. Dinner out and breakfast are always included complements of grandma.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

I was selected to review Progeny Press Guide for Treasure Island. Progeny Press sells over one hundred titles
categorized into Elementary, Middle, and High School grade levels.Their goal is to teach children to think
clearly, to understand literature, and to rely on God's scripture for truth and
values, and enjoy themselves while they do it!

I received the interactive downloadable guide which is
available for $16.99. The interactive guide
allowed my student to key in her answers to questions directly on the computer.
I did not have to print out any information but the print option is available
for this guide.A CD of the guide can be
purchased for $16.99 as well.I’ve used
the physical Progeny Press guides in the past which are available for $18.99 but
this was my first experience using the interactive guide.Personally, I like flipping through pages and
being able to transport work but for a technologically savvy person the
interactive guide is great and very convenient.

Each part is comprised of vocabulary that is mentioned in
the chapters; questions that flesh out a literary concept that was covered like
mood or setting; comprehension questions; “Dig Deeper” questions that apply the
text to real life; scripture references; and discussion questions.I love the structure and organization of the
guide.It is logical and allows the
student to get more from his reading than if he had just read straight through
from beginning to end.Progeny Press
guides force you to stop, think, and analyze the text.

Pre-reading activities are included before starting each
part of guide.For the Treasure Island guide some activities include research on different sea
vessels, island research and geography to include drawing a map of the
setting.We used a physical Progeny Press guide for The Giver earlier in the school year. By comparison, the pre-reading
activities included in that guide were researching other real-life utopian societies, researching
coming-of-age ceremonies in different cultures, and exploring different career
options.My daughter did some of the
pre-reading activities in the earlier guide we used as the subject material was
new to her but we chose to skip the pre-reading activities for Treasure Island because she has previously done
research on ships and has studied geography extensively.

We started our study of Treasure Island by reading the novel aloud.I would read one day and my daughter the
next.We abandoned this method in favor
of an audio version of the book from the library.She listened and gave me an oral summary
every few chapters or so.We did the
exercises together in the interactive guide.

After completing the novel and finishing the study of each
part in the guide, a final overview explores character, symbolism, the major
conflicts in the novel, and theme.Students
are taken through the dramatic structure of exposition, rising action, climax,
falling action, and denouement.They are
given the opportunity to identify each section of this dramatic structure for
full understanding of specific events that drive the plot forward.

Finally, there are several essay topics to choose from for a
final writing assignment. The assignments give the student an opportunity to
condense all of his learning into one last culminating event.The choices include character analysis,
compare and contrast essays, research topics, informative writing, and creative
writing.

Additional resources are listed that include other books
written by the author and books of similar interest.Other classics listed as additional resources
for Treasure Island include Robinson Crusoe
and Gulliver’s Travels.

I love, love Progeny Press Guides. They suggest 8-12 weeks to complete a guide.
If I could spend an unlimited amount of time reading novels, I would use these
guides for reading all the Classics. I have purchased other guides and by far
consider Progeny Press guides the best.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Boy was this a week!I decided at the last minute to register my daughter for College For a
Weekend (CFAW) at Liberty
University.I dropped her off with a friend on Thursday
and picked them up on Saturday.Princess
is usually all work with very little play so I really wanted her to enjoy this
experience.She had a ball.

Liberty
University is the
friendliest campus I’ve ever been on.The students share a similar spirit – everyone seems so happy to be
there.They are helpful and
accommodating.Each person we came in
contact with was this way.Princess felt
right at home.

We texted several times throughout the weekend.I knew if I waited until the end of the
weekend she would forget many of the details of the weekend.One text from her read “I feel so inspired
right now.”I was very encouraged by
that.She attended a few classes in her
desired major and took copious notes (check the box that says teach your homeschool kid how to take notes from a lecture).She said she learned a lot.The
studio & digital art program at Liberty
is fairly new.I hope they add more
courses to the program by the time my daughter would be a freshman in
2015.Quite honestly, there are a lot of Universities with phenomenal art schools and foundation programs but it is so
hard to dismiss what Liberty
brings to the table.I’m glad we have 2
years to figure it all out.

She is ready to go to college but I remind her that one must
qualify for college by doing well in their high school program.Perhaps this experience will refocus her
efforts in her academics because now she can really see what she is working
toward.

I excitedly shared the CFAW experience with several people. They are amazed that we are doing all of these sorts of things so early in high school. After reviewing College Commonsense, I realized that senior and junior year is so busy with challenging academics, SAT prep, scholarship essays, college essays, and all that volunteer work that now is the time for visits and giving my highschooler a vision for her future. If I may say so myself, that future looks very bright indeed.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

This week all the public school kids have been out on spring break. The weather has been perfect for time off. It was not my plan to have my girls off but it was kind of difficult to stay on schedule with our public school students home.

The girls discovered a creek which I believe is part of our waste storm management down hill from the neighborhood playground. They've made several trips down there. They are fascinated with the algae and other finds in the "creek".....homeschoolers.

The girls managed to get some math and grammar done and the high schooler is making progress on Moby Dick. The highlight of our week was having my niece visit for the weekend. My girls enjoy the company of their cousins and have so much fun together. I wish she could've stayed longer but we hope to host her for a week in the summer.

Well its back to work next week. Since April has arrived, I feel a sense of urgency to stay on track. Before I know it summer will be here with all of its obligations (graduations, out of town trips, etc.) and I feel like we are behind. This is one reason why I try not to take scheduled time off. It is a race to the finish so that we can truly relax later.